Job Costing
Landscaping
Profitability

Automate Job Estimating, Costing, and Renewals

By
Barbara Shea
Published at 13.37 on 09.24.2024

A Balancing Act

Running a successful commercial landscaping business? It’s like balancing on a three-legged stool—job estimating, job costing, and job renewals. Nail all three, and you’re sitting pretty. But if one of those legs breaks, you’re flat on your back wondering what just happened. Automate those three bad boys and watch your profits go up instead of your blood pressure. Keep the guesswork out, stop relying on manual input, and always have the accurate numbers you need.

1. Job Estimating

First up on the three-legged stool? Job estimating. It’s the foundation that sets your business up to succeed—or crash and burn. Accurate estimates? That’s what keeps you ahead of the competition and raking in profits. Overbid, and you’re sitting on the sidelines watching someone else do the job. Underbid, and you’re barely scraping by—or worse, bleeding money.

 

You know how long it’ll take your crew to knock out the work, but here’s where most folks trip up: forgetting to factor in all the hidden costs—fuel, travel time, maintenance, depreciation, you name it. But don’t worry. With a platform built specifically for commercial landscapers, you get automated, down-to-the-penny estimates. No guesswork, no scrambling—just solid ground to keep your company in the black.

It’s impossible to stay in business for long if you get this wrong—unless you’re a millionaire looking for a tax write-off.

2. Job Costing

Congrats, you won the job! Now it’s time to add the second leg of the stool. Job estimating gave you the numbers for what the job should cost. Now, the second leg, job costing, shows you exactly what the job is actually costing you—in real time.

 

You know unexpected things to pop up during a contract. One minute, it’s smooth sailing, and the next, you’re dealing with busted equipment, extra hours, or random client requests. Keeping track of all that crap is a nightmare. The right job-costing software not only keeps track, it also gives you a chance to adjust on the fly and avoid losing money. 

We ran the numbers, and a scary 21% of commercial maintenance landscaping jobs lose money.

3. Job Renewals

The last leg puts your business on firm ground because renewals keep the money rolling in. Best of all, there’s no guesswork when you have the right platform. You can see exactly what the job cost and what you estimated.

 

Did you crush it and can afford to offer your client a deal to keep them hooked? Or maybe you made a solid profit and just need to tack on a little “cost of living” increase. Or—brace yourself—did you lose your shirt and now it’s time to reset expectations or bail? Whatever the outcome, don’t just slap on a random 5-10% increase. With the right data, you’ll know your numbers cold, and you can make the kind of decisions that keep your business thriving.

No matter what happens on the job, you’ll have everything you need to make the best decisions for your company’s future.

Sitting Pretty With Momentum

Momentum IoT offers a robust platform specifically designed for the challenges faced by commercial maintenance landscapers. We provide real-time GPS tracking, dash cams, and financial job reports that offer three key benefits:

 

  1. Know exactly where your vehicles, equipment, and crews are, and what they’re up to—in real time.
  2. Automated job estimates and cost tracking, so you’re always competitive and profitable.
  3. Have hard numbers when renewal time rolls around so you can negotiate like a boss.

 

Start a free 30-day trial today. There are no upfront costs, no contracts, and no hidden fees—just one low monthly price you pay as long as you love us. Cancel anytime—hell, we even pay the cost of shipping the equipment back.

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